1847 FIRST WORK IN THE 'RATTLESNAKE' 45 



pleasure to the young Huxley; it only served to 

 renew the pain of parting from home, so that, after 

 writing a last letter to reassure his mother as to the 

 comfort of his present quarters, he was glad to lose 

 sight of the English coast on the llth. 



Madeira was reached on the 18th. On the 26th 

 they sailed for Rio de Janeiro, where they stayed from 

 January 23 to February 2, 1847. Here Huxley had 

 his first experience of tropical dredging in Botafago 

 Bay, with Macgillivray, naturalist to the expedition. 

 It was a memorable occasion, the more so, because in 

 the absence of a sieve they were compelled to use 

 their hands as strainers the first day. Happily the 

 want was afterwards supplied by a meat cover. From 

 the following letter it seems that several prizes of 

 value were taken in the dredge : 



Rio JANEIRO, Jan, 24, 1847. 



MY DEAR MOTHER Four weeks of lovely weather and 

 uninterrupted fair winds brought us to this southern 

 fairyland. In my last letter I told you a considerable yarn 

 about Madeira, I guess, and so for fear lest you should 

 imagine me scenery mad, I will spare you any description 

 of Rio Harbour. Suffice it to say that it contends with 

 the Bay of Naples for the title of the most beautiful place 

 in the world. It must beat Naples in luxuriance and 

 variety of vegetation, but from all accounts, to say nothing 

 of George's l picture, falls behind it in the colours of sky 

 and sea, that of the latter being in the harbour and for 

 some distance outside of a dirty olive green like the 

 washings of a painter's palette. 



We have come in. for the purpose of effecting some 



1 His eldest brother. 



